This invention relates to a device and process for handling a headed fastener to facilitate insertion into a workpiece opening, especially a workpiece opening which is not readily accessible to the operator.
This invention has particular application in the railway car art, but is of course not limited thereto. For example, when repairing the side wall structure of a railway hopper car, a crewman positioned inside the car extends what is typically referred to as a Huck Bolt through aligned openings in the structural steel elements being worked on. Another crewman on the outside of the car uses a special tool to grasp the huck bolt and apply a nut or the like to complete the fastening process. When extending the Huck Bolts through openings which are high up on the car and inaccessible by hand, the crewman within the car must elevate himself by a ladder or scaffold which as can be appreciated is not only potentially dangeous but is extremely time consuming.
The Huck Bolt is an elongated, headed and externally ridged fastener such that, when inserted through aligned openings which are inaccessible to the crewman, could easily strip the ridges rendering the outside crewman's task that much more difficult.
Long handle devices for gripping the Huck Bolt to facilitate bolt insertion in the aligned openings are unwieldy since the gripping especially of a round bolt head causes the bolt to cock during insertion or to fall away from the handler. Besides, a long handle gripper does not permit the crewman to apply sufficient force against the bolt as it is being extended through the openings because of the out-of-reach and out-of-sight location of the openings. Moreover, inserting the Huck Bolt one at a time using a long handle grip becomes extremely time consuming.